Night Flight

Nissan March SR

My 6 year old Nissan March (affectionately known as Marchie) has been a great part of my life over the years. This will be the first post that I will be writing about it.

Dropping off Lye at his home in Woodlands, it was already 12.15am, 2 Jan 2012. I prepared myself for a long drive back home in the still of the night.
After waving goodbye to L, I adjusted my seat and saw that my phone was going flat. I plugged it into the
car charger, and realised it wasn't charged. Waiting along the road with my blinkers on, I tried to troubleshoot.

Adjust socket, no response. Adjust cable, no response, adjust cable again. It started charging. Then it dropped. There is a fault with a cable. Tried again. The same problem again. My heart sank, the car phone charger is out of commission. I will need a new cable. But it won't be available. I will need to purchase another charger sometime soon.

I kept the charging kit and tidy up the dashboard. Put Marchie into gear, blinkers off and I glided it smoothly into the next lane. The radio played easy listening love songs in the cockpit. As I steered the car into the open road. I felt a need to make a little pit stop to the nearest petrol station. Punch a few buttons on my GPS and it point me to the nearest Esso petrol station.

The road are quiet at this time of the night. Except for taxis and the odd night driver. There was no other traffic as I drove down the streets toward the petrol station. Woodlands is a pretty quiet place compared to the rest of Singapore. Pulling into the petrol station, I notice a canary yellow Suzuki Swift Sport at the pumps refuelling. I thought to myself, that is the potential replacement candidate for Marchie.

I parked Marchie and walked toward the Suzuki. I looked at its the display at the pump hoping to find out what would it cost to refuel the Suzuki Swift Sport. The displayed showed that the owner only pumped 14 litres. So I will not get the information I want. I walked away to the petrol station store.

I went into the store and found the replacement car charger and contemplated purchasing it. The price tag was nowhere to be found.

'Alright, next time than.' I told myself.I put down the item and went on with my errands.

Walking back to Marchie, I looked for the Suzuki. It has gone off. I reminisce the test drive I had in it sometime back. The power, the handling, the roar of its twin exhausts. Ah how good it felt.
Snapping out of my fantasy, I slide back into the cockpit of Marchie. I twisted the engine starter and the

Marchie purred into life. Trembling slightly, as if to remind me of its age.

Air con put to auto, gear level to drive. Brakes off and Marchie glided away. The Nissan March is a totally different animal from the Suzuki Swift Sport. While the Suzuki goads you to give it the beans with the throttle, Marchie made you want to drive as smoothly as possible.

Almost everything is automatic in the Nissan March, the gear box, the control of the doors locks and engine starter, the climate control, even the headlights. Not to mention, the myriad array of sensors which control the brakes, engine, valve openings, cabin air quality, air bags etc. For 6 years, Marchie has taken care of me by making all these thousands of decisions for me during my drives.

'Put me in Drive, I'll take care of the rest' Marchie seems to say. But like a pet growing old, some of Marchie's systems are failing. Due to a air vent failure, my mechanic has opted to disable Marchie's heating function instead of letting me go through a costly repair. True, that I will not need the function in hot and tropical Singapore. Still I felt the pain, when I knew Marchie has lost a function.

I bought Marchie brand new and literally off the shelf. He was a show car in the Nissan showroom. It was love at first sight. I bought him within the weekend I first saw him. His paintwork has been lovingly restored to brand new by myself and some buddies. As I walked toward Marchie tonight, he was just as shiny as was when I first saw him.

I drove through the quiet streets and turn into the expressway (motorway in Singapore context). Marchie's 1.4l lump purred into a smooth whine. The speedometer climbing easily towards 100km/h.

Smooth and gentle as Marchie is. It does have sporting pedigree, its engine was the same lump found in March Cup racers in Japan. Pumping 99ps (about 97 horses) from a natural aspirated 1.4l cubic capacity. It shamed most naturally aspirated European engines of similar capacity, which have a mere 70 horses.

Cruising smoothly at 90km/h along the expressway. I contemplated thumbing the Overdrive button which is akin to the M button on BMW M cars. On the driver's manual, it was explained that the Overdrive button will down shift the gearbox to 3rd gear and assist overtaking. But in actual fact, Marchie doesn't need it. It has enough power to overtake without thumbing the button.

Furthermore, in real life, thumbing the button doesn't just merely down shift the gear box. It is a full fledged transformation. The engine jumps and surged, the chassis tightens up and the exhaust give a nasal roar. The speedometer flashed past 100km/h. And as a friend who once drove behind me when I thumbed the button, commented.

'What's wrong with you? Do you need to drive so fast?' I take that as a compliment for cutesy Marchie.

'Nah, not straining the old boy tonight.' I thought and my hand came off the button.

The slipstream swooshed smooth around the cabin as the kilometres slipped passed. The quiet songs from the radio, the stars in the night sky. The efficient whine of the engine. I wondered for a while, how I could be in the same seat as the engineer who test drove Marchie in the foothills of Mt Fuji when it was fresh out of the Nissan factory. I wondered what scenery Marchie had saw in his very first drive out of his birthplace.

I sat there thinking of the green hills and misty roads, beautiful Japanese scenery Marchie have saw in that very first drive. Tonight, I am at one with Marchie like a sojourner in the night. Cruising on towards my destination.

I drove on into the night...